‘Frozen’ poster shows winter tale

The animated Frozen will show winter in all its chilled beauty when it hits theaters this Thanksgiving.

After all, the tale is based loosely on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, told with a modern twist and in a Nordic environment featuring many winter wonderlands.

“It’s just the perfect setting for there to be snow and snowflakes, beautiful ice floes and glaciers,” says Idina Menzel, who voices the role of Elsa, a woman once destined to be queen of the kingdom Arendelle in Frozen.

It also shows the warming relationships between the main characters depicted on Frozen‘s poster, shown exclusively here.

Elsa, in the right snowbank, is the older sister to the clumsy Anna (left snowbank, voiced by Kristen Bell).

The two fall on hard times when Elsa flees to the mountains after accidentally unveiling her powers to control ice and snow, which she has hidden throughout her life.

Her departure leaves the kingdom of Arendelle in perpetual winter and the often-overlooked Anna searching for Elsa with the help of a rugged mountain man Kristoff (far right in the snowbank, voiced by Jonathan Groff) and a magical snowman (middle, voiced by Josh Gad).

“When she was really young, Elsa found she has this power. And her parents tell her she has to hide it because she can hurt her sister and other people. She’s terrified of it and she holds it in her whole life,” says Menzel. “When she shows it, it all snowballs. No pun intended.”

“Through the film’s journey Elsa comes to learn how to harness the power and find a way to sort of accept herself for who she is,” Menzel adds.

The movie also is a showcase for the two sister characters, who come to accept each other as Anna tries to convince Elsa to come back to their kingdom.

“It’s also a beautiful story of sisterhood and coming to respect each other,” says Menzel.

Voicing Elsa allowed the Broadway icon Menzel to sing one of the film’s original songs, Let It Go. The “beautiful” song comes at the “pinnacle moment when Elsa decides to flee the kingdom,” says Menzel, who performed the song live for fans at Disney’s D23 showcase this summer.

Frozen also allowed Menzel to perform in her first full animated film, something that will thrill her son, Walker Nathaniel Diggs, 4, with husband Taye Diggs.

“This is totally different for me,” says Menzel. “I have always wanted to be in a traditional Disney movie like this and to have a song. Also to be able to share it with my son. It’s been a quite an exceptional experience.”